Abstract
AimsTo improve the one hour response times to referrals made to psychiatric Liaison in A&E without adding or changing available resources.MethodResponse time data of referrals made to the Homerton University Hospital psychiatric liaison service was collected dating back from August 2016 to October 2019 (n = 10225).A nudge was introduced in the form of a large display showing referrals arriving in real time in the staff office.Data was then collected over a period of 5 weeks (n = 436) to measure if any change had occurred in response times.ResultResponse times appear to follow a Poisson like distribution curve. The average referral was responded to within 6 minutes (n = 1577) prior to the nudge, and 6 minutes (n = 88) after. Prior to the nudge the 95% referral envelope fell within 134 minutes (n = 9728) and was 122 minutes (n = 414) after the intervention. Significant statistical difference is observed upon considering response in the first 240 minutes.ConclusionNudge interventions could be a useful resource-sparing method to improve services. The average referral to the HUH liaison team was quickly responded to within 6 minutes and yet hitting the 1 hour 95% target appears ever-elusive. Hitting targets of 95% responses within 1 hour may prove very difficult if we are not considering natural distributions, such as Poisson, occuring in the backgroung which ultimately may require a change in approaches to how we set performance targets.
Highlights
To improve the one hour response times to referrals made to psychiatric Liaison in A&E without adding or changing available resources
Response time data of referrals made to the Homerton University Hospital psychiatric liaison service was collected dating back from August 2016 to October 2019 (n = 10225)
A retrospective review of computer records took place to identify all inpatients residing on the low and medium secure wards on the day of data collection. Their pathology records were checked to ascertain if HIV test results were available
Summary
To improve the one hour response times to referrals made to psychiatric Liaison in A&E without adding or changing available resources. Response time data of referrals made to the Homerton University Hospital psychiatric liaison service was collected dating back from August 2016 to October 2019 (n = 10225). Data was collected over a period of 5 weeks (n = 436) to measure if any change had occurred in response times.
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